Jinyi Chu
Courses
CPLT 612, EALL 588, EAST 616, RSEE 605, RUSS 605
Socialist '80s: Aesthetics of Reform in China and the Soviet Union
This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to the study of the complex cultural and political paradigms of late socialism from a transnational perspective by focusing on the literature, cinema, and popular culture of the Soviet Union and China in 1980s. How were intellectual and everyday life in the Soviet Union and China distinct from and similar to that of the West of the same era? How do we parse “the cultural logic of late socialism?” What can today’s America learn from it? Examining two major socialist cultures together in a global context, this course queries the ethnographic, ideological, and socio-economic constituents of late socialism. Students analyze cultural materials in the context of Soviet and Chinese history. Along the way, we explore themes of identity, nationalism, globalization, capitalism, and the Cold War.
EALL 288, EAST 316, LITR 303, RUSS 316, RSEE 316
Socialist '80s: Aesthetics of Reform in China and the Soviet Union
This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to the study of the complex cultural and political paradigms of late socialism from a transnational perspective by focusing on the literature, cinema, and popular culture of the Soviet Union and China in 1980s. How were intellectual and everyday life in the Soviet Union and China distinct from and similar to that of the West of the same era? How do we parse “the cultural logic of late socialism?” What can today’s America learn from it? Examining two major socialist cultures together in a global context, this course queries the ethnographic, ideological, and socio-economic constituents of late socialism. Students analyze cultural materials in the context of Soviet and Chinese history. Along the way, we explore themes of identity, nationalism, globalization, capitalism, and the Cold War.
HIST 213, EAST 318, GLBL 320, RSEE 315
Against the West: Sino-Russian Relations
This course is an investigation of four centuries of Sino-Russian relations. Joining techniques of historical and literary analysis, it examines how Chinese and Russian political and cultural developments mutually shaped the two countries’ ideologies, cultures, and social movements. By closely reading literary, historical, and visual materials, along with secondary sources, we uncover the global trends linking the two great nations’ peoples as they searched for the path to construct strong empires and nation-states. The legacy of this early Sino-Russian contact remains with us in the twenty-first century, as Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping evoke memories of early alliances, while Russian and Chinese dissidents appeal to Western liberal powers to support their resistance to authoritarian rule. The course engages us with a broader understanding of the critical global processes that define our present and point toward our collective future.